Delaware Sees Employment Increase Due to Solar Energy

Environment America, a Washington D.C. based company, recently released a ranking of total solar power capacity per person for each state.

A press conference was held recently to tout Delaware’s ranking as number 11 in the Nation. The biggest outcome, said speakers, is the increase in employment.

“The amazing part of Delaware’s progressive solar policy is the employment,” said William Rawheiser, president of Sun-in-One Inc., a solar energy equipment supplier based in Wilmington. “There have been thousands of jobs created in the state that would have been lost because of the lack of work.”

SolarCity, a California company, with operations in Seaford and Newark currently employ 80 people and earlier this announced it would be hiring an additional 50 people to meet the increasing demand for solar energy products.

Colleges and universities are also seeing the impact solar energy jobs have. Delaware Technical Community College had 75 students enroll in energy-related programs in the 2014 fall semester including Energy Management, Renewable Energy Solar and Building Automation Systems.

Nationally, the solar energy industry employs about 174,000 people and has grown ten percent faster than any other industry in recent years.